Bolin v. Becerra ( 2020 )

1 2 3 4 5 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 6 NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 7 8 PAUL C. BOLIN, E88100, Case No. 19-cv-07700-CRB (PR) 9 Plaintiff, ORDER OF DISMISSAL 10 v. (ECF No. 3) 11 XAVIER BECERRA, et al., 12 Defendants. 13 Plaintiff, a state prisoner incarcerated at San Quentin State Prison’s (SQSP) death row and 14 a frequent litigant in federal court, submitted for filing a pleading entitled “Demand for Statutory 15 Default Judgment” (ECF No. 1 at 1) the clerk filed as a new civil action. Although plaintiff 16 claims that his pleading is a demand for default rather than a civil action, it’s clear from the 17 pleading that he seeks damages from the state attorney general and various other individuals 18 connected with his 1991 conviction and death sentence from Kern County Superior Court on the 19 ground that defendants’ “failure to declare the petitioner’s judgment void in Kern County Superior 20 Court” as mandated by law constitutes “a default.” ECF No. 1 at 2. To the extent plaintiff seeks damages based on actions or omissions that would render his 21 conviction or sentence invalid, his civil action or demand for default is barred under the rationale 22 of Heck v. Humphrey, 512 U.S. 477 (1994), until his conviction or sentence first is reversed on 23 direct appeal, expunged by executive order, declared invalid by a state tribunal authorized to make 24 such determination, or called into question by a federal court’s issuance of a writ of habeas corpus. 25 See 512 U.S. at 486-87. And to the extent plaintiff seeks to challenge the validity of his conviction or sentence, his sole remedy is to file a petition for a writ of habeas corpus under 28 26 U.S.C. § 2254. See Calderon v. Ashmus, 523 U.S. 740, 747 (1998). Plaintiff’s civil action or 27 demand for default accordingly is DISMISSED without prejudice. 1 The clerk is instructed to close the file and terminate all pending motions as moot. But 2 || based solely on his affidavit of poverty, plaintiff's application for leave to proceed IFP (ECF No. 3 || 3) is GRANTED. 4 IT IS SO ORDERED. 5 || Dated: January 10, 2020 6 a — CHARLES R. BREYER 7 United States District Judge 8 9 10 11 13 15 Q 16 & = 17 Z 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 1 2 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 3 NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 4 PAUL C. BOLIN, 5 Case No. 3:19-cv-07700-CRB Plaintiff, 6 5 v. CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE 3 XAVIER BECERRA, et al., Defendants. 9 10 I, the undersigned, hereby certify that I am an employee in the Office of the Clerk, U.S. 11 District Court, Northern District of California. 13 That on January 10, 2020, ISERVED a true and correct copy(ies) of the attached, by 14 placing said copy(ies) in a postage paid envelope addressed to the person(s) hereinafter listed, by 15 depositing said envelope in the U.S. Mail, or by placing said copy(es) into an inter-office delivery 16 receptacle located in the Clerk's office. = 17 Z 18 Paul C. Bolin ID: E-88100 San Quentin State Prison 3EY12 19 San Quentin, CA 94974 20 21 Dated: January 10, 2020 22 Susan Y. Soong 73 Clerk, United States District Court 5 Lashanda Scott, Deputy Clerk to the Honorable CHARLES R. BREYER 26 27 28